Will Ferrell 80’s Night with Bulls-Hornets
Will Ferrell delivered a hilarious starting line-up intro for last nights 80s-themed (Chicago) Bulls- (New Orleans) Hornets game in New Orleans…perhaps one of the best partnerships in the world is Ferrell and anything to do with sports.
After you’re done laughing at Ferrell’s colorful call-outs-which include: ‘Carlos Boozer, he still lives with his mother’ and ‘he’s a Scorpio and a horrible dancer, Joakim Noah’ remember that Ferrell’s charity work is mainly focused on Cancer for College. (http://www.cancerforcollege.org/)
As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com
*Note: Athlebrities™ is NOT associated with E! Entertainment Television’s on-line ‘Athlebrity Zone’ or ‘Athlebrity Madness’. Their use of my legally protected company name is without my consent and constitutes a direct, well-documented theft of my intellectual property.
NBA Preseason Giving
NBA Preseason Giving
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” (Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
Most fans are excited for the NBA season to get underway, but I relish this time of year not just for the hoops, but for the preseason love our NBA hotties lavish on their communities…yesterday tipped off the 2009 NBA Cares Week of Service where every NBA team will host a variety of “hands-on service events through Oct. 26 in a collaborative effort to give back to children, families, and the community and to increase fan awareness about the importance of service.”
Increasing my ‘fan awareness’ yesterday were the Memphis Grizzlies…Zach Randolph, Mike Conley(L), and DeMarre Carroll® danced with kids, read to them and gave away Grizzly backpacks during a Read to Achieve Event at Norris Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee …
All week, NBA teams are making the rounds-joining with community members and partners in an effort to support health, education, and environmental awareness programs through several projects…I’ll try to keep up with all the action, which includes: The Detroit Pistons will distribute 1,000 pairs of shoes to children in partnership with Samaritan’s Feet…the Los Angeles Lakers and community volunteers will assemble holiday care packages for deployed U.S. service members in partnership with Operation Gratitude…the New Orleans Hornets will visit pediatric patients at a local hospital, host a three-day children’s book distribution at the Audubon Zoo, and tip off their Read to Achieve program by hosting 500 local fifth graders at Louisiana Children’s Museum for a writing workshop and 13 simultaneous Reading Timeouts…the Phoenix Suns and community volunteers will build bunk beds for Steve Nash and I and underprivileged children in partnership with Rebuilding Together…the Chicago Bulls will host “Operation Stock the Library” at Henry H. Nash Elementary School. Players will stock the school’s library with $8,000 worth of brand-new books to tip off the team’s Read to Achieve program…the Los Angeles Clippers will provide 1,600 local families with food and personal care items in partnership with Feed the Children…the Golden State Warriors will prepare and serve meals to 150 homeless children and families in partnership with CityTeam Ministries in Oakland…the New Jersey Nets will host a park clean-up day at Branchbrook Park in Newark, N.J. (I suspect that’s gonna be a long day)…the Oklahoma City Thunder will spend time with youngsters at an area homeless shelter…and the Orlando Magic will serve food to homeless children and families at the Christian Service Center in downtown Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood.
The NBA Cares Week of Service aligns with President Obama’s recent launch of the United We Serve initiative (www.serve.gov), which seeks to expand the impact of volunteer work in existing organizations and encourage individuals to make a difference in their communities. Fans can find out about volunteer opportunities and learn more about the NBA’s community partners by going to www.nba.com/nbacares. In the immortal words of Nike: JUST DO IT! Get out and volunteer to help our ballers improve the communities and make the kids smile!
As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com
Derrick Rose: The Real Scandal
Derrick Rose: The Real Scandal
“…my mom, she never let anything distract me when I was in grammar school [or] high school. She never let me think of myself as bigger than anyone else.” Derrick Rose
NBA player Derrick Rose has been getting a lot of heat lately for some apparent youthful mishaps. I read enough to know it’s much ado about nothing. What I find scandalous is that buried within the bullshit-I was only able to find ONE sentence that mentioned that the Chicago Bulls babe was hosting his first annual Derrick Rose Basketball Camp.
It may appear that I look at the world with Rose-colored glasses, and in this case I certainly do, but generally my glass is half-empty, its only when the water line rises-as is the case with Rose’s activities-that I notice the glass is actually half full.
Rose hosted his first annual Derrick Rose Basketball Camp at Joy of the Game in Deerfield, Illinois. Kids aged 9-18 joined him for the four-day session that offered hands-on coaching from Derrick and other instructors.
Judging by the photos, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year gave all the kids in attendance an experience to remember. It’s just too bad there isn’t one quote from Rose about his camp experience …on his website, there’s an older interview he did with ESPN where he was asked: ‘Do you want your legacy in the city to be just about basketball?’ His answer: “No, not just about that. Also about helping where I’m from, the community. Just to let them know that hope is still there. Don’t give up. In my era, where I’m from, I only had Donald Whiteside. He’s from Englewood and he’s the only one that came out of Englewood. Other than him, I really didn’t have anyone else to look up to that was from my area. So in seeing him, I never gave up hope, just kept playing and then I realized that I might have a future in basketball.”
He also spoke about what he’d like aside from a wicked hoops career: “Definitely doing more things with some kids. NBA Cares stuff, charity stuff. I really think about that a lot because they really look up to us.” Thank you D-Rose…hold your head high and keep my glass half full. For more info on this mighty-mighty fine 20-year old, visit his website at D Rose Hoops.
As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com